


Legends

by goodnight-tae (SirenDreams)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: 'game over' endings, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, CYOA, Choose Your Own Adventure, Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Horror, Multiple Endings, Romance, Tw: blood mentions, general creepy atmosphere, good and bad endings, tw: death, tw: ritual sacrifice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 23:22:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17456231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenDreams/pseuds/goodnight-tae
Summary: They say every legend holds a bit of truth. As a folklore researcher, it's your job to hunt down legends across the world and seek the truth behind the myth. When you embark on a research trip to investigate one involving a old village you wind up with more than you bargained for. Will you and your companion discover the truth and make it out alive? Only time will tell.Choose wisely.[archeologist!Baekhyun x folklorist!Reader] [Choose Your Own Adventure]





	Legends

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to **Legends**! A choose your own adventure/choose your path styled fic. This work will have _four_ main endings: two bad, one neutral, and one good. There will also be instances of a 'Game Over' ending where the choices you make may lead to something bad. Regardless of if you get a 'game over' or an official ending, there'll be links that will either take you back to the beginning or back to your last choice to try again.
> 
> Finally, before we dive in let me drop a warning: this fic will get more than a little dark. The village you investigate has secrets; ones the inhabitants would kill to keep secret. Please heed the warnings in the tags and check to make sure if any were added! If any of the above make you uncomfortable, please refrain from reading.
> 
> If you stick around, thank you as always for reading and I hope you enjoy!

_A village missing for decades… colleagues vanishing without a trace… Will you become another footnote in some book about those who were lost?_

* * *

Dread twists and turns in your stomach as you scan the horizon, the island slowly emerging from the foggy mist that surrounds it. Somehow you didn’t expect it to be so… big. Of course, for an island to hide an entire village it would have to be large. Yet this island… is gargantuan.

“Something spectacular, isn’t it?” the voice of your traveling companion rings out from your left, carrying on the open air as the wind begins to kick up. “It doesn’t appear on any maps that have ever been found.”

“I wouldn’t call it spectacular and it doesn’t appear on maps because it wasn’t always an island.” The gruff voice of the boat captain sets your nerves on edge, his disdain filled tone starting to make you question your choice to come here. “Look down at the water and you’ll see.”

You peer over the edge of the railing as your companion does the same, leaning far further than you and squinting into the spray that kicks up from the surface. You hear his sharp intake of breath and squint into the water’s surface, unsure if the noise was due to seeing something or the way he smacked into the railing as you hit a particularly rough patch of water.

“Are those… no, they can’t be.” A glance back at the captain as you stand confirms what you can’t believe. “Those are houses.”

“They are indeed. This island used to be a big land mass jutting out from the coast. Bustling village here,” he points to the water, “quiet village up there. People come and go, until one day all communication from the upper village ceases and a violent storm hits. Wind and rain like you’ve never seen or heard. This land came from beneath the ocean and the ocean took it back in one big crashing wave, covering the village in a single night. Or so the legend goes.”

“They say all legends hold a bit of truth if you know where to look.”

You study him as he straightens, the wind whipping his dark hair into eyes that shine with eagerness. He slings his pack over his shoulder and walks with an ease you envy to the side of the boat where you’ll disembark. Sure he’s eager, maybe overly so, but the determination on his face is a look only found on someone who knows what they’ve set out to do.

“Listen boy, I don’t know what you’re doing out here waltzing through terrain better left forgotten-“

“I’m an archeologist and she,” he gestures in your direction, “is a folklorist. We’re researching and studying, doing our jobs.”

“An archeologist and a folklorist.” If anything, the disdain from earlier has multiplied tenfold. “Chasing corpses or worthless baubles and following fairytales. This island is going to eat the two of you alive just like every other starry-eyed buffoon before you.”

The boat jerks to a sudden stop, engine idling as the force sends you and your dark haired companion tumbling into the shallows. You land on your feet, just barely, faltering as you hit the sand and strong hands steady you. The boat speeds away in the opposite direction as you stare, open mouthed, until it becomes a distant speck before disappearing into the mist.

“What an ass!” you shriek, stomping your foot- a bad move as your shoes slide on the sand and you fall on your rear end in the water, submerged to your elbows. “What kind of jerk just dumps people into the ocean and leaves?”

“I don’t think you want the answer to that one, but given that we’re alive… he’s not that kind.” He holds out his hand, staring down at you with those warm eyes glittering in amusement. “It occurs to me that, while we know of each other, we’ve never been properly introduced. I’m Baekhyun, archeologist extraordinaire! … Kidding. Just Baekhyun, the archeologist.”

You stare briefly at Baekhyun’s outstretched hand, taking it as he pulls you up and the two of you carefully pick your way to shore. You tell him your name and follow up with, “Folklorist. Paid to let my not so hidden nerd side run amok and find the origins and truths in the tales of old.”

“Ah, I’ve got a confession to make.” Baekhyun says as you reach the sandy shore and start for the tree line, finally on stable enough ground to separate from one another. “I actually attended one of your lectures on a project you ultimately handed off to a friend. Hellhounds, I think? I had wanted to meet you, but I chickened out when I got about four people down. Your work is quite impressive.”

You stop short for a moment, surprised that he remembered the study but even more so at the fact that he’s so impressed with you. It’s a strange feeling, to be looked upon by someone in a slightly similar field with such reverence. You thank him as you resume walking following him as he steps into the trees and onto a faint dirt path, one that seems to wind in an out as it veers closer and closer to the rocky wall in the distance. 

A gust of wind kicks up once more as you walk the path, the ribbon in your hair coming loose and floating away in the breeze. 

Down the crest of the hill, between the trees, and through a nearly hidden tunnel in the rock. It blows past the crumbling walls, through the thin rays of light shining through the dirt and rock ceiling. It catches outside the tunnel on a nearby branch before the breeze picks up again, carrying it further and further.

Past barren dirt paths and cobbled streets. Past houses that have seen better days yet somehow, some way, still stand mostly intact. Along a narrow path through the trees and into a clearing where fire pits ring the center and a large stone slab rests- a thinner, taller slab behind it. Reaching the lower branches of the tree and covered in inscriptions- symbols of a language unknown or forgotten by many.

The ribbon settles on the center of the flat stone, between the smudged and faded red stains not unlike hands reaching for one another.

The wind rustles the tree leaves, as if sighing in remorse.

In a village forgotten by history, now merely a story told in hushed voices and select circles, only outsiders can bring the hope of change. A hope of safety for those that live; salvation for those who would die. The ritual will begin. The ritual will be done.

The outcome… 

The fate of yourself and the fate of others.

Who lives… and who dies, rests in your hands.

_Choose wisely._


End file.
